History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c37.s1.11

v1.c37.s1.11

Indians used mainly bābul pods and bark in vegatable tanning especially in a bag form. Bag tanning is a technique wherein the hides and skins are stitched into a bag form and bark with infusion is kept inside the bag so that the tanning infusion will percolate through the thickness of the hides and skins rapidly and evenly effecting a very good vegetable tannage. Also made leather using alum and oil tannages alone and in combination with vegetable. Chrome tanning was not in use in ancient time since it is a recent origin (end of nineteenth century). Malaya, Japan, and India made parchment for making puppets for shadow shows and also India made parchment to use as a sheet for writing as well as musical instruments as in Persia, Babylon, Egypt, etc. Tartar knew how to make leather flasks in grotesque forms using ‘boiled leather’. Similar leather bottles were also made in India. Alum tanned soft leather was used to make the red leather gloves presented to an official depicted wearing these in tomb painting from Tel-el, Armrna in Egypt dated about 1370 B.C. Similar leather was also produced in India.